A team of researchers from the National Cancer Institute of Milan (IRCCS) has detected the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Italy already in September 2019 in a study that “may reshape the history of the pandemic.” The team has tested blood samples of individuals enrolled in a lung cancer screening and reported the results in a study published by the Tumori Journal, the publication of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, datelined Nov. 11. They “investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific antibodies in blood samples of 959 asymptomatic individuals enrolled in a prospective lung cancer screening trial between September 2019 and March 2020 to track the date of onset, frequency, and temporal and geographic variations across the Italian regions. SARS-CoV-2 RBD-specific antibodies were detected in 111 of 959 (11.6%) individuals, starting from September 2019 (14%), with a cluster of positive cases (>30%) in the second week of February 2020 and the highest number (53.2%) in Lombardy. This study shows an unexpected very early circulation of SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic individuals in Italy several months before the first patient was identified, and clarifies the onset and spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Finding SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in asymptomatic people before the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy may reshape the history of pandemic.” (“Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the prepandemic period in Italy,” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0300891620974755 )
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